IM7 


n  (roidence  o 


hnisiiaijitij 


..BY.. 

Mrs.  John  Henry  Barrows. 


j'/y'j  f ,  I  S  3 


porei|r\  Missions 

An  Evidence  of  Christianity. 

BY  MRS.  JOHN  HENRY  BARROWS. 


This  paper  was  read  by  Mrs.  Barrows  at  the 
Annual  Union  Meeting  of  the  Woman’s  Foreign 
Missionary  Boards  of  Chicago,  Y.  M.  C.  A.  Au¬ 
ditorium,  Jan.  5,  ’98.  The  subject  of  the  meet¬ 
ing  was  Phil.  4  : 17,  “Gifts  as  Fruit  bearing.” 

When  Paul  the  aged,  a  prisoner  in 
Pome,  sent  his  love-fetter  to  the 
church  in  Philippi,  he  gave  as  one  reason 
for  the  rejoicing  which  appears  in  every 
chapter,  the  knowledge  that  the  seed, 
spiritual  seed,  which  he  had  sowed  among 
them  years  before,  has  sprung  up  and  is 
now  bearing  fruit.  It  is  a  secondary  mat¬ 
ter  to  him  that  he  himself  is  the  recipient 
of  the  fruit,  for  he  hastens  to  say  after 
each  mention  of  their  gifts  to  him,  “Not 
that  I  speak  in  respect  to  want,  for  I  have 


3 


learned  in  whatsoever  state  I  am,  there¬ 
with  to  be  content/-’  or,  “But  I  have  all 
and  abound.”  His  real  reason  for  joy  is 
that  he'  has  been  permitted  in  his  own 
lifetime  to  see  proofs  of  their  life.  As  he 
looks  over  the  parts  of  Europe  and  Asia, 
where  he  preached,  he  sees  a  great  gar¬ 
den;  he  planted,  Apollos  and  others  have 
watered,  he  has  seen  tiny  shoots,  kind 
purposes,  put  forth;  he  has  seen  the  leaves 
and  buds  and  blossoms  of  beautiful  Chris¬ 
tian  graces  appear;  he  now  receives  gifts 
from  them,  and  realizes  that  the  fruits 
by  which  Christians  are  to  be  known  have 
been  finally  produced! 

And  Paul  would  have  rejoiced  still  more 
could  he  have  looked  down  the  centuries 
until  now,  and  have  seen,  not  only  the 
life  and  vigor  of  the  Christian  Church  as 
evidenced  by  its  great  gifts,  but  also  that 
these  fruits,  the  unselfish  offerings  of  con¬ 
secrated  hearts,  are  everywhere  accepted 
as  the  evidence  of  the  truth  of  Christian¬ 
ity  which  it  is  impossible  to  cinsicer.  We 


4 


in  America  and  Europe  may  think  that 
the  fruits  of  Christianity,  as  shown  in  our 
civilization,  ought  to  be  enough  to  show 
to  non-Christians  the  superior  life  and 
vigor  of  our  religion.  But  our  civilization 
has  two  sides,  and  it  is  the  “seamy  side” 
which  is  invariably  looked  upon  by  them. 
They  learn  from  General  Booth’s  “Dark¬ 
est  London”  and  Mr.  W.  T.  Stead’s  “If 
Christ  Came  to  Chicago,”  and  the  tele¬ 
grams  in  every  newspaper,  of  corruption 
and  iniquity  abounding  in  our  great  cit¬ 
ies,  and  the  “fruits”  by  which  Jesus  said 
we  were  to  be  known,  do  not  appear  to 
them  very  desirable.  But  the  “fruits” 
which  they  see  in  the  form  of  gifts  to 
their  poor,  food  for  the  famished,  medi¬ 
cine  and  nursing  for  the  plague-smitten, 
and  teaching  for  the  ignorant,  are  an  evi¬ 
dence  of  the  truth  of  Christianity  abso¬ 
lutely  insurmountable. 

When  the  missionaries  first  came  to  In¬ 
dia,  they  were  looked  upon  with  con¬ 
tempt.  Their  religion  was  a  mushroom 


-of  yesterday,  compared  with  the  Hindu 
religion,  as  old  as  the  Ganges  and  the 
Himalayas ;  the  Christian  religion  was 
considered  not  only  young  but  also 
as  immoral;  for  did  not  Englishmen 
claim  to  be  Christians;  and  yet  were 
not  the  army  and  civil  service  in  India 
filled  with  open  wickedness?  But  grad¬ 
ually,  during  these  long  years  of  Christian 
work,  it  has  come  to  be  understood  by 
the  more  intelligent  and  honest  among 
them,  that  all  Europeans  are  not  truly 
Christians,  and  the  fruits  of  Christianity 
as  evidenced  by  the  truly  religious,  are 
making  more  and  more  of  an  impression 
upon  them.  Among  the  native  newspa¬ 
pers  are  many  violent  haters  of  Christian¬ 
ity,  and  when  the  famine  broke  out  last 
year,  and  the  mission  compounds  were 
gradually  filled  with  children,  orphaned 
by  starvation,  these  newspapers  cried  out 
that  the  missionaries,  unable  to  satisfy 
themselves  with  the  number  of  converts 
gained  by  argument,  were  trying  to  make 


6 


India  Christian  by  taking  possession  of 
the  children!  Years  ago,  this  would  have 
elicited  no  reply  from  the  non- Christian 
press.  But  I  myself  read,  in  a  Hindu 
journal,  a  denial  of  this,  and  a  statement 
that  in  feeding  and  caring  for  the  hun¬ 
gry,  the  Christians  show  themselves  more 
full  of  pity  than  the  maharajahs  and  the 
rajahs,  who,  although  their  treasuries  are 
filled  with  silver,  neither  built  shelters 
for  the  destitute  nor  provided  them  food. 
And  the  article  contained  these  words: 
“If  you  desire  to  find  the  noblest  exam¬ 
ples  of  true  charity,  you  must  not  look 
to  Hinduism,  but  to  Christianity.”  “The 
noblest  types  of  character  yet  evolved  by 
our  race  are  found  among  many  of  the 
Christian  missionaries  in  India.”  These 
quotations  from  a  Hindu  newspaper  show 
that  gifts,  whether  of  money  or  of  lives, 
are  fruit,  and  are  accepted  as  such  by  the 
non-Christian  world. 

But  aside  from  the  fact  that  it  is  as  im¬ 
possible  to  cut  off  a  living  church  from 


7 


foreign  missionary  work  as  it  is  to  prevent 
a  living  tree  from  producing  fruit ;  and 
also  that  the  foreign  work  is  an  evidence 
of  the  truth  of  Christianity  which  is  felt 
at  home  as  well  as  abroad,  it  is  also  true 
that  foreign  missionary  work  appeals  to 
the  heart  of  pity  as  no  other  work  does. 
As  one  finishes  a  visit  through  the  orien¬ 
tal  world,  he  feels  like  saying  with  Paul: 
“The  whole  creation  groaneth  and  tra- 
vaileth  together  in  pain.”  0  the  sum  of 
human  misery  as  it  appears  to  one  who 
looks  back  over  a  journey  around  the 
world!  One  can  only  escape  from  the 
burden  of  it  by  repeating  again  and  again, 
“The  kingdoms  of  this  world  shall  become 
the  kingdom  of  our  Lord  and  of  His 
Christ,  and  he  shall  reign  forever  and 
ever.” 

But  besides  making  one  realize  the 
misery  and  largeness  of  the  non-Christian 
world,  a  journey  through  mission  fields 
gives  one  a  new  idea  of  the  universality  of 
the  Spirit  of  Christ  through  the  Christian 


8 


world.  We  gather  month  after  month  in 
our  meetings,  and  consider  usually  only 
the  work  of  our  own  denomination,  and 
its  little  handful  of  missionaries.  “What 
are  they  among  so  many?”  we  ask,  with 
heavy  hearts.  Bnt  although  the  number 
of  Christian  missionaries  is  far  too  small, 
yet  they  are  more  than  many  of  us  real¬ 
ize.  We  crossed  the  great  peninsula  of 
Hindustan  from  west  to  east  and  east  to 
west,  five  times.  In  Bombay  and  Ahmed- 
nagar  and  Madura  we  were  among  the 
workers  of  the  American  Board,  wise, 
faithful,  large-minded.  In  Benares,  Ban¬ 
galore,  Salem  and  Coimbatore,  we  saw  the 
work  of  the  London  Missionary  Society, 
reaching  from  Hindus  of  the  highest  caste 
and  education  down  to  the  wretched  pa¬ 
riah  ragged-schools;  in  Calcutta,  Darjee¬ 
ling,  Jeypore,  Ajmere  and  Poona,  we 
were  with  Scotch  Presbyterians,  pious, 
earnest  and  persistent,  and  in  Calcutta, 
Bombay  and  Madras,  we  saw  the  three 
great  Christian  Colleges  of  India,  Wilson 


9 


College,  Duff  College  and  The  Christian 
College,  all  in  the  hands  of  Scotch  Pres¬ 
byterians.  In  Lucknow  and  Cawnpore  we 
came  across  the  work  'of  American  Meth¬ 
od  ists,  which  is  now  being  so  signally 
blessed.  We  attended  the  conference  at 
Lucknow  and  came  to  know  Bishop  Tho- 
burn  and  some  of  his  zealous  and  conse¬ 
crated  helpers.  Bishop  Thoburn’s  work 
in  the  villages  of  North  India  is  limited 
only  by  the  number  of  men  he  can  put 
into  the  field,  and  the  number  of  men  he 
can  place  is  limited  only  by  the  funds 
contributed  in  America.  In  Delhi,  Am¬ 
ritsar,  Tinnevelly  and  Palamcotta,  we 
were  in  the  midst  of  the  work  of  the  Es¬ 
tablished  Church  of  England,  Evangel¬ 
istic,  medical  and  educational,  by  far  the 
greatest  work  done  in  India.  In  the  Tinne¬ 
velly  district  alone,  they  have  over  a  hun¬ 
dred  thousand  native  Christians,  and 
when  my  husband  was  urged  to  remain 
here  over  Sunday  and  preach,  he  was  told 
that  if  he  did  so  he  would  speak  to  an  au- 


10 


clience  of  1300  Indian  Christians,  in  one 
church.  Bishop  Morley,  the  head  of  this 
diocese,  confirmed  and  welcomed  to  the 
Lord’s  table  between  November  and  Feb¬ 
ruary  of  last  year,  over  2000  Indians.  We 
visited  the  Arcot  Mission,  where  we  were 
in  the  midst  of  the  work  of  the  Dutch 
Reformed  Church  of  America,  and  also 
the  native  state  of  Indore,  where  the  Can¬ 
adian  Presbyterians  are  wonderfully  suc¬ 
cessful.  In  Lahore,  the  great  city  of  the 
Lodiana  Mission,  we  were  among  Ameri¬ 
can  Presbyterians,  and  in  Madras  we  met 
representatives  of  the  American  Baptist 
Mission,  who  have  almost  repeated  the  day 
of  Pentecost  among  the  Telugus. 

As  I  came  to  realize  how  great  and  nu¬ 
merous  and  mighty  were  the  forces  at 
work,  I  felt  as  Elisha’s  helper  did  when 
his  eyes  were  opened  and  he  saw  the 
mountain  filled  with  the  Lord’s  chariots 
and  horsemen.  Dear  friends,  it  is  true 
that  we  are  in  the  midst  of  a  great  battle, 
but  we  are  a  part  of  a  great  army;  it  is 


11 


true  that  our  campaign  is  to  be  a  long 
one,  but  it  is  to  terminate  in  no  superfi¬ 
cial  victory.  Through  years  of  education 
and  training  the  non-Christian  people  are 
to  be  taught  the  reasonableness  of  Chris¬ 
tianity,  through  hundreds  of  examples  of 
Christly  living,  they  are  to  perceive  the 
superior  ethical  teachings  of  Christianity, 
and  in  God’s  own  time,  when  these  long 
and  trying  days  of  preparation  are  over, 
an  outpouring  of  the  Holy  Spirit  is  to 
complete  the  work  for  which  we  are  now 
giving  and  praying.  They  that  be  with 
us  are  more  than  they  that  be  with  them, 
and  to-day  the  wisest  and  most  far-sighted 
among  the  leaders  of  the  other  religions 
of  the  world  know  that  the  real  battle  is 
no  longer  between  Christianity  and  either 
Hinduism,  Buddhism,  or  Mohammedan¬ 
ism,  strong  and  entrenched  as  all  these 
religions,  with  their  millions  of  ad-r 
herents,  may  appear  to  a  superficial  ob¬ 
server,  but  between  Christianity  and  ma¬ 
terialism.  The  other  religions  are  being 


12 


undermined  slowly  bnt  steadily  by  educa¬ 
tion  and  contact  with  Christianity. 

We  have  heard  for  so  many  years  that 
this  is  true,  that  it  is  a  shock  to  an  Am¬ 
erican  Christian  to  find  outwardly  the 
great  country  of  India  wholly  given  up  to 
falsehood  and  superstition.  We  visited 
only  large  cities,  as  my  husband’s  mission 
was  to  “educated,  English-speaking  Hin¬ 
dus,”  and  of  course  only  large  cities  would 
furnish  enough  of  this  class  to  give  him 
audiences.  So  we  saw  only  the  most 
civilized  and  Christianized  parts  of  India. 
But  we  saw  all  the  things  of  which  we 
have  heard.  I  visited  Zenanas  and  talked 
with  Indian  ladies,  mothers  and  grand¬ 
mothers  as  well  as  young  wives,  who  had 
never  seen  a  man  outside  their  own  fam¬ 
ily,  who  had  never  left  their  own  house, 
except  when  carried  in  a  covered  palan¬ 
quin  from  their  father’s  home  to  their 
husband’s;  pictures  and  music,  art  and 
literature,  mountains,  forests  and  riv¬ 
ers,  railway-trains  and  boats  were  un- 


13 


known  to  them.  I  have  seen  starving 
people  refuse  to  touch  bread  that  I,  unable 
to  bear  the  sight  of  their  skeleton  limbs 
and  wolfish  eyes,  tried  to  put  into  their 
hands.  They  were  dying  of  famine,  but 
they  would  not  break  their  caste. 

I  have  seen  lines  of  pilgrims  bearing  on 
their  heads  great  jars  full  of  water  which 
they  were  carrying  through  dust  and  heat 
and  under  the  terrible  sun,  300  miles 
from  the  River  Ganges  to  some  other  riv¬ 
er,  in  order  to  sanctify  its  waters. 

I  have  seen  hundreds  of  women,  slighted 
and  unloved  wives,  prostrating  themselves 
before  the  hideous  image  of  Kali,  black, 
horrible  with  protruding  tongue,  and 
adorned  with  a  necklace  of  skulls,  praying 
for  sons,  sons,  that  their  lives  might  he 
endurable.  I  have  seen  others  patiently 
walking  around  and  around  the  serpent 
stones  in  Bangalore,  and  I  have  prayed  as 
I  saw  them  that  the  God  of  love  might  be 
revealed  to  them  and  might  answer  the 
prayers  which  were  in  their  sad  hearts. 


14 


I  have  seen  hundreds  of  little  child- 
wives  and  scores  of  little  child-widows, 
many  of  them  learning,  thank  God,  that 
although  they  are  degraded  and  scorned 
here  they  are  loved  by  One  who  was  Him¬ 
self  “despised  and  rejected  of  men.”  I 
have  seen  Brahmans  and  pariahs,  fakirs 
and  lepers,  the  worship  of  cows  and  mon¬ 
keys,  and  long  processions  of  half  naked 
devotees  carrying  a  hideous,  nodding  idol 
down  to  the  sea  for  his  annual  bath. 

All  these  things,  and  many  more  of 
which  it  is  impossible  to  speak,  are  either 
practiced  or  defended  by  all  classes  of 
Hindus.  Educated  men,  graduates  of 
great  universities  defend  and  uphold  the 
most  disgusting  and  senseless  idolatry,  not 
because  they  in  their  hearts  believe  in 
Hinduism,  but  because  they  sincerely  be¬ 
lieve  that  if  Hinduism  is  given  up,  the 
national  life  of  India  will  he  destroyed. 
They  publicly  take  part  in  idolatrous 
worship  and  ostentatiously  paint  their 
faces  with  the  symbols  of  Shiva  or  Vishnu 


15 


in  order  to  show  their  belief  in  the  reli¬ 
gion  of  their  country.  When  the  prime 
minister  of  Jeypore,  a  man  of  liberal  edu¬ 
cation,  great  ability,  and  the  real  ruler  of 
Jeypore,  called  upon  us,  his  conversation 
was  of  Shakespeare,  of  whom  he  was  a 
life-long  student.  No  one  would  have 
suspected  from  his  words  during  his  in¬ 
terview  that  he  was  not  a  Christian  schol¬ 
ar.  And  yet,  only  a  few  weeks  before,  he 
had  gone  on  a  long  pilgrimage  and  had 
washed  away  his  sins  in  a  sacred  tank! 
But  the  real  motive  behind  that  pilgrim¬ 
age  was  not  religion  but  patriotism.  Hat¬ 
ing  the  British  and  fearing  national  anni¬ 
hilation,  the  educated  Hindu  is  trying  to 
keep  the  common  people  loyal  to  India 
through  loyalty  to  India’s  immemorial 
religion! 

But  although  foreigners  are  usually  ei¬ 
ther  feared  or  hated,  or  both,  the  Chris¬ 
tian  missionary  is  both  trusted  and  loved. 
On  the  great  steamer  from  China  to  San 
Francisco,  on  which  we  returned  to  Am- 


16 


erica,  were  many  important  people,  Brit¬ 
ish  civil  and  military  officials  going,  by 
way  of  America,  home  to  England  to  the 
Queen’s  jubilee.  Some  of  these  men  were 
famous  for  their  integrity  and  ability  and 
had  labored  for  years  among  non-Chris¬ 
tian  peoples,  and  always  I  believe  to  their 
advantage.  But  it  was  not  to  accompany 
any  of  these,  but  to  say  farewell  to  a  hum¬ 
ble  Christian  missionary,  who  came  to 
America  on  the  same  ship,  that  forty 
Chinese  men  came  down  to  the  sea,  and 
with  tears  and  sobs,  parted  from  one  who 
had  told  them  the  Saviour’s  love.  Dear 
friends,  that  Christian  missionary  was  our 
gift  to  that  dark  land,  and  those  weeping 
Christians  were  our  fruit  as  well  as  his. 
And  many  Christians  now  among  us  will 
look  some  day  with  surprise  into  unknown 
faces,  bright  with  love  to  Christ,  and  will 
hear  with  unspeakable  joy  the  words  of 
our  Master  saying:  “Inasmuch  as  ye  did 
it  unto  one  of  the  least  of  these,  my 
brethren,  ye  did  it  unto  me.” 


Woman's  Board  of  Missions  of  the  Interior, 
Room  60S,  59  Dearborn  St.,  Chicago,  111. 


